State reports rise in most CRCT scores, including math. Is rise significant?
The state released encouraging statewide CRCT results today with system and school results coming later.
Please note in the release below John Barge’s comment on how Georgia will be able to compare its student performance to other states once we move to Common Core and its companion testing. I assume that we will see a phase-out of the CRCT and a move to the new test series being developed by a consortium of states, including Georgia.
Also notable is the rise in math scores in fifth and eighth grades. Statewide, 87 percent of Georgia’s fifth graders passed the CRCT for math this year, compared to 82 percent last year. The passing rate on eighth grade math jumped four percent, to 78 percent.
I have been reading teacher comments on this blog long enough to wonder about these basic questions about the CRCT: What does CRCT performance tell us about our students? A testing expert once told me that states have to do a better job showing parents what a score means for their child, not just in the present but in the future. And most states, he said, have no idea what their state exam scores say about a child’s future.
Do kids with certain scores on the CRCT in middle school perform better on the state’s End of Course Tests in high school? Do high CRCTs align with high school or college readiness?
Does a low score mean the child didn’t learn the material well or the school didn’t teach it well?
From DOE:
Student results on the 2011 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) are up in almost every grade and content area.
The official statewide results of the CRCT were released today and show a one-year improvement on 23 of the 30 content-area tests. There was no one-year change on five tests and a decrease on only two tests (grade 4 reading and grade 6 English/Language Arts).
“I am encouraged that the CRCT results show many more of our students mastering a more rigorous curriculum,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “The credit for these tremendous results goes back to the local level, where they have raised the bar for all students.”
Superintendent Barge also added, “While I would like to be talking about these results from a more national perspective, we can’t use these results to show how our students are performing compared to students from across the country. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and the subsequent Common Assessments, that comparison will soon become possible.”
Among the highlights of the 2011 CRCT report:
- Reading, grade 5: Ninety-one (91) percent of students passed the reading CRCT,a one-year increase of one point, and a one-year increase of 10 points in the number of students exceedin the standard.
- Reading, grade 8: Ninety-six (96) percent of students passed the reading CRCT, a one-year increase of one point and an increase of seven points since GPS implementation (2006).
- Mathematics, grade 7: The pass rate was 89 percent, an increase of four points in one year and 15 points since GPS implementation (2007).
- Mathematics, grade 8: The pass rate was 78 percent, an increase of four points in one year and 16 points since GPS implementation (2008).
- Science, grade 3: The percentage of students exceeding the standard increased six points in one year.
- Social Studies, grade 6: The pass rate was 72 percent, an increase of eight points in one year.
State law requires that students in third, fifth and eighth grade meet or exceed expectations on the CRCT in reading in order to be promoted. Fifth and eighth grade students must also meet or exceed expectations on the CRCT in mathematics. In the 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade “gateway” years, more students than ever before are meeting and exceeding standards on the first attempt.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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115 comments Add your comment
Nathan
June 9th, 2011
6:18 pm
Thanks don’t know why it’s not working on this computer. Opened on another.
Bruce Kendall
June 9th, 2011
6:21 pm
Maureen
To answer your questions, it helps to understand that the CRCT and the EOCT are minimum standard tests. Each test is evaluated yearly to determine if the cut score required for meeting minimum standards to be successful needs adjustment.
The 2010 documents covering that years cut scores are:
2010 Scale Scores and Cut Scores for the Criterion‐Referenced Competency Tests
And
Winter 2009 Scale Scores and Cut Scores for the End-of-Course Tests
Since cut scores can be converted to an equivalent classroom grade I will use your examples to make some comparisons. I will use the most current documents the Ga. DoE was willing to let me have. See above.
The following is the subject, grade, and equivalent classroom grade to meet standards:
CRCT
- Reading, grade 5: 45
- Reading, grade 8: 48
- Mathematics, grade 7: 48
- Mathematics, grade 8: 52
- Science, grade 3: 53
- Social Studies, grade 6: 53
EOCT
Grade 9 Literature (GPS) 54
American Literature (GPS) 50
Physical Science (GPS) 40
Biology (GPS) 47
U. S. History (GPS) 54
Economics (GPS) 50
Mathematics I (GPS) 50
Mathematics II (GPS) 43
Algebra I (QCC) 48
Geometry (QCC) 49
As you can see, a meets standard ranges from a 40 to 54. 70, is no longer the lowest score you need to be considered passing.
Q. Do kids with certain scores on the CRCT in middle school perform better on the state’s End of Course Tests in high school?
A. Students that exceed standards generally perform better. Yet it is no guarantee.
Q. Do high CRCTs align with high school or college readiness?
A. For high school sometimes. There are as always a number of variables. Did the elementary school do a good job of preparing the student for middle school? Did the middle school do a good job of preparing them for the rigor of high school? Did their parents do a good job at Academic Parenting? And this is the short list!
A. For college NO! Nationally 60 percent of entering freshmen have to take remedial instruction or high school II as some wits are calling it.
To determine if the students are really doing better one would need to find out if the cut scores have been lowered again!
food4thought
June 9th, 2011
6:24 pm
@East Cobb Parent: CRCT scores at one grade level cannot be compared to the previous/next grade level because the Performance Standards are different. There is no statistically way to determine growth or loss.
I have been told in the past that any state test would have to be easy enough for south Georgia to pass.
Also there is no way to compare one state’s score to another’s because each state has its own standards, tests, and “passing” scores….all due to No Child Left Behind.
Bruce Kendall
June 9th, 2011
6:35 pm
@catlady and Maureen Downey
On the right side of your child’s CRCT test report you can find the number of correct answers your child made and the number of questions on the test. This becomes a simple percentage problem. Hopefully that will help answer some of your concerns. Unless GA DoE changed the report format from last years.
APS math teacher.
June 9th, 2011
6:46 pm
APS please, please, please!! no more training please!! We can really use this time to plan instead.
Bruce Kendall
June 9th, 2011
6:49 pm
@ Maureen Downey just opened the PowerPoint and it makes me wonder if everyone who works at the school district or DoE go to the same PowerPoint training school of obfuscation, or is it I just want the facts and not a set of pretty pictures?
arrgy
June 9th, 2011
6:55 pm
Hmm…have YOU actually seen the test. I doubt if you did, since teachers are not even allowed to look at the test while the test is being administered, I highly doubt that John Q. Public has ever seen one.
sloboffthestreet
June 9th, 2011
7:02 pm
Kudos to Jerry Eads, Mikey D and many others for seeing the cat may well be out of the bag. I believe I am actually reading an objective conversation about a problem and perhaps a path to a proper solution.If you want to know the whole story see if you can get a hold of Joe Blessing at DOE. If you ask the question with the answer included in it you will at least get a nod. And we all know a wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse. Matt at DOE communications is very nice but perhaps he may be the next canidate for president. Then again you may wonder what ever happened to the likes of Robert Gibbs???? Kind of makes you wonder, and that brilliant Austan Goolsbee. Back to teaching for him!!!
ABC
June 9th, 2011
7:03 pm
You know this isn’t such a great accomplishment. Those tests are ridiculously easy. I merely glanced at the results of my kids’ tests. No offense, but unless you have some kind of learning disability (i.e. dyslexia) you have to be a monkey on drugs not to get a minimum of 90%.
Bruce Kendall
June 9th, 2011
7:06 pm
To all of the Middle and elementary school teachers, thank you.
As for CRCT Data, in depth; your principle gets a series of reports that they should be sharing with you. I know because my sons middle school principle shared them with the school council the three years we were there.
Bruce Kendall
June 9th, 2011
7:11 pm
@ ABC, We must have a lot of flying monkeys on drugs then. However, as a parent with some involvement in public schools (35+ years). The problem frequently starts at home.
ScienceTeacher671
June 9th, 2011
7:34 pm
To add to what Bruce Kendall said, a student who “exceeds” on an EOCT may have only gotten 60% or so of the questions correct, (or may have actually gotten 90% or more of the answers correct) but the student will be given a 90+ “grade equivalent” by the GaDOE.
ScienceTeacher671
June 9th, 2011
7:38 pm
Catlady, or you’re able to show pretty conclusively that the 9th grade student who has never passed a CRCT is reading at a 2nd grade level, but they refuse to test the student because his/her learning difficulties might be caused by his/her poor attendance rather than his/her lack of reading skills.
Cobb Mom of 4
June 9th, 2011
7:40 pm
Why would a parent tell a child to do anything other than their best on a test? Telling your child to xmas tree a test is setting a very poor example.
While I am no fan of the CRCT I don’t think it is as useless as many would have you believe. I am looking at my 5th graders Individual Student Report (Exceeds with scores between 860 and 910). I can see the number correct out of the number possible for each section/sub section. The sections with the highest number of incorrect answers coincide with the areas where he was struggling with specific concepts.
While I am proud of his scores, I would be more proud if I knew how he compared with students across the US. The CRCT shows me how well he knows the Georgia curriculum, but how does the Georgia curriculum compare to other states? If the ITBS answers that question then why have both tests?
Furthermore, his school took the CRCT during the 2nd week of April…he had absolutely NO homework for the 6 weeks after the test. While the teacher assured me that they were still working each day in class, to me this is obviously an indication that they are teaching to the test.
Really amazed
June 9th, 2011
8:05 pm
@Cobb Mom of 4, doesn’t Cobb take itbs in 3rd, 5th and 7th? Then your child would have the results from itbs 5th and crct 5th. I know some counties changed testing for itbs to 7th grade. @Catlady, nail on the head once again!!!!!!! ALL of your comments! When are the parents of GA going to realize all of this??? National test will compare and scare the daylights out of the parents. The DOE know this and that is the main reason they haven’t gone to an ALL national comparison. Crct can be cut and manip. for AYP purposes. Look at APS, do people really think this only happened there?? They were the only ones that happenend to get caught!
Miss Scarlett
June 9th, 2011
8:13 pm
@Mikey D – I teach 2nd grade and we were given the option (by the county) of giving an old CRCT. The teachers were not in favor, but the principal insisted we give it. Why? The unofficial reasons…we have to do everything suggested by the county so that the principal will look good, and he wants the data for the school improvement plan, again to make him look good. It doesn’t matter that as you said, “It’s ridiculous to expect a 6 or 7 year old to sit still and silent for 2+ hours and have the same effort on question #70 that they had on #1. This borders on cruelty.”
The results are in……but don’t celebrate just yet! « EducationCEO's Blog
June 9th, 2011
8:17 pm
[...] order to be promoted to the next grade. As I read the article in the AJC and Maureen Downey’s AJCGetSchooled blog, I didn’t even bother to dissect the scores or pop a bottle of champagne in celebration of [...]
MS Man
June 9th, 2011
8:48 pm
Not to throw cold water on the hard work of the teachers, but remember that the CRCT-M was given this year. Those scores may not be included in the CRCT improvements. That means that the SWD kids aren’t included in the total CRCT improvements. That means 2% of kids who usually fail CRCT are not included in the scores this year because they took a different test. Definitely would be a 3-4 point improvement statistically. Just a thought…
Nathan
June 9th, 2011
8:51 pm
@ Bruce Kendall – Well that Physical Science EOCT cut score explains to me why I have students who can pass or exceed the EOCT and fail or barely Pass the 8th grade science CRCT. These students take both test in the same year just days apart.
say what?
June 9th, 2011
9:02 pm
Could the increase be attributed to the waivers given to some school systems due to teh bad weather? Some gains were so small (1 or 2%) that it could be that the rest of the state did not do as well, but with removal of entire school systems due to the storms in N.GA the numbers could be skewered.
Congratulations to those who tooko the test seriously and did their best.
Dekalbite
June 9th, 2011
9:16 pm
Change your cut scores and you will change your test results. The Georgia DOE cut scores are a black box. Go on the Internet and the DOE will state that the derivation of the cut score is too complex to explain to the public. You will not get a logical answer.
Cut scores for those who don’t know are the scores you need to “meet” expectations. For example, if meeting expectations is answering 50 out of 100 questions correctly, then 50 is your cut score. The DOE can change the cut score so that answering 40 out of 100 questions will “meet” expectations.
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/pea_communications.aspx?ViewMode=1&obj=763
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
June 9th, 2011
9:21 pm
Really amazed:
Am counting on Dr. Barge and his team to thwart educ-rats’ efforts to forestall national comparisons.
Of course, over the last several years, the use in GA of the ITBS has been reduced by these same educ-rats. They’ll do anything to protect their cheese.
Change In leadership
June 9th, 2011
9:44 pm
It is sad to say this but APS have been experiment and cheating for the students for the last 12 years. Just in case you did not know this Mr. Allen Mueller Director of charter schools for APS. Maybe you should leave on June 30 with Dr. Hall and her other staff members. At this point the parents should be able to side the future of Atlanta Heights Charter School and not the Atlanta School Board.
ScienceTeacher671
June 9th, 2011
10:10 pm
@Dekalbite – I wonder how many times the state RAISES cut scores?
Yeah, it’s a rhetorical question…
Dekalb Teacher
June 9th, 2011
10:24 pm
I find it absolutely amazing how many people, many who aren’t even teachers stating how easy the test is. They must know more than I do. I teach middle school math and have never seen the test for the grade level that I teach. How do all of you seem to know exactly what is on the test to make the statement about how easy it is. I challenge many of you experts to take the pre and post test in the coach books at middle school level and see if you pass it. If I were a betting person, I would bet that most people who do not teach math would not pass it. If you don’t know what is in the test (and you shouldn’t) please don’t make off the wall comments on the degree of difficulty on the tests.
lola
June 9th, 2011
10:42 pm
How did our Georgia students do on a national test like the ITBS?
Marc
June 9th, 2011
11:34 pm
@Dekalb Teacher
I don’t mean to be disrespectful to all you teachers out there. I am foreign educated. I do believe K-12 math education in America is sub par (way sub par) when compared with math education in other countries. I looked up sample CRCT math tests for 3rd and 5th grades (see links below). These problem solving questions are about two grades below their counterparts in countries like Singapore. See the three sample word solving problems from a 3rd grade Singapore Math workbook below. I have supplemented my children with Singapore Math. They are doing fantastic in math at school. My 3rd gradee got a perfect COGAT score. How many of our math teachers can clearly explain the process of solving the following three questions to their 3rd graders? In some countries, teachers come from the best of high school graduates. It doesn’t seem so in America. I think that’s where the problem is. Kids can be taught and challenged to achieve more.
3rd grade sample CRCT problem solving questions
http://www.henry.k12.ga.us/uge/0607OASprint/3rd%20grade/Math/problem_solving.pdf
5th grade sample CRCT problem solving questions
http://www.henry.k12.ga.us/uge/0607OASprint/5th%20grade/Math/problem_solve.pdf
http://www.singaporemath.com
Singapore Math Third Grade
Challenging Word Problems for Primary Mathematics (ISBN 978-981285531-2)
Page 86 question #1
1. The weight of a pineapple is 880 g. It weighs 3 times more than that of an orange. What is the total weight of the pineapple and the orange? Express your answer in kilograms and grams.
Page 105 question #8
8. The total capacity of a pail and a jug is 10 liters. The capacity of a pail is 9 liter more than that of a jug. Find the capacity of the jug in milliliters.
Page 117 question #4
Ashley has four times as much money as Dave. If Ashley has $180 more than Dave, how much money do they have in total?
Mikey D
June 9th, 2011
11:59 pm
@Marc
Is it really a surprise that our best and brightest usually stay away from education as a career? Look at the scorn that teachers are treated with by politicians, many parents, students themselves, and the public in general. In many foreign countries, teachers are revered, and students are raised to respect them. I have a friend who teaches in a foreign country. When he walks into the classroom, the students immediately become silent and stand in respect. Here, I have students who expect to be bribed with candy or homework passes in order to simply follow the most basic rules and expectations.
This stark difference in cultural norms and beliefs may also contribute somewhat to the lower level of mathematics proficiency in the US. Math is a subject that simply cannot be fully mastered within the confines of the classroom. Outside practice is essential. Students in those other nations are probably made to do homework on a routine basis. Here in America, there are too many students who can’t be bothered with homework because that would mean having to miss “American Idol” or “Dancing w/ the Stars”.
The problems with American education go much, MUCH deeper than any of our “leaders” are willing to admit. It’s just easier to blame the teachers, isn’t it?
Cobb Mom of 4
June 10th, 2011
12:03 am
@Really Amazed: I do have the ITBS scores from the 5th grade, however the ITBS is taken early in the school year so it really is testing his 4th grade work.
Hermione
June 10th, 2011
12:42 am
@food4thought:
“CRCT scores at one grade level cannot be compared to the previous/next grade level because the Performance Standards are different. There is no statistically way to determine growth or loss.”
This is so true! Thank you for stating this. Why can’t people who support Pay for Performance realize this??? PfP tracks growth of students from one grade level to the next for several years. I think they call it “value added”. I don’t understand how this is at all fair to classroom teachers.
Dale
June 10th, 2011
1:51 am
These kinds of magical test score improvements will always be suspect in the wake of all the cheating. Most people right away will think the kids were coached or some cheating teacher or administrator doctored the answer sheets. We’re almost at the point where dramatically improved scores need a Barry Bonds asterik.
GA400
June 10th, 2011
6:41 am
If there were no government-mandated testing, the AJC would have nothing to write about.
Fed Up
June 10th, 2011
7:09 am
The CRCT scores are *scaled* scores with no maximum. This means that the state can stretch the scale however they need in order to get more students above the 800 cutoff for “meets expectations.” Here’s an example. My son got 920 in 3rd Grade Reading, which was PERFECT. But he got 929 and 924 in Math and Science, which means that the PERFECT scores were even higher. To me, this means that the range needed to be stretched out further because those subjects are harder.
Fed Up
June 10th, 2011
7:13 am
I meant no *uniform* maximum score, like the SATs which always has a max score of 800.
Jerry Eads
June 10th, 2011
7:36 am
@MikeyD, hats off. Well said.
Okay, background: Of my checkered past, 20 of those years had to do with testing. Fifteen of those were running state testing programs for another state. My doc is in research & measurement. That doesn’t mean by any stretch I know everything, but I have seen quite a bit. I spent 10 years working in this state, NOT in testing, as I swore I would never, ever again be personally involved in the horror we do to kids with state minimum competency testing.
Which brings me to a point I likely will make many times here: Any test is only as easy or hard as you make it. Over and over again here I see people, including teachers, state disgust that the CRCTs don’t requre “70%” of the questions to be correct. On any day in any subject I can make a test that the average student gets 10% or 90% of the questions correct; it simply depends on how hard the questions are. What these comments tell me is that our teacher preparation institutions do a terrible job of preparing teachers to do testing (yes, I already knew that).
Some very knowledgeable person in an earlier post noted that you cannot compare one grade’s CRCT with the next: Absolutely correct. That is not the test’s fault. That is the fault of under-competent prior state leadership that allowed improperly trained – and untrained – middle management to head development of “standards” rather than curriculum that has proper scope and sequence (look it up) from grade to grade and across subjects from which to build decent testing.
Now, whether the generally undertrained (with some superb exceptions, including the poor guy who undeservedly took the fall for the social studies fiasco a while back) testing staff WOULD have developed decently scaled tests had they had the material to work with, that’s another question that we just can’t know the answer to, because given the deck they were dealt, they could NOT, AND they did not have sufficient funds to develop such testing in any case. The $20 million or so (that’s what it was a few years ago) is WAY too short to do the job we might want them to do. That does beg the question: Is there something else we should be doing for kids with that funding?
Now, what I’d REALLY like to see is the AJC properly report the data from these tests. I am simply dumbfounded that these people continue to report changes in PASS RATES as changes in SCORES. These tests are absolutely not developed to allow comparisons of scores; there are only two points – those for “meets” and “exceeds” that have any semblance of reliability. The rest of the score range is absolutely meaningless. AJC, you keep bragging about how good you are; how ’bout you SHOW it in this arena?
catlady
June 10th, 2011
8:42 am
ST671: or he is ELL and so he “can’t be tested” until a few more years go by (5, 6, or more)(true story) until his English improves (never mind that his problems are obvious by talking to him in Spanish as well).(we are not willing to hire a Spanish-speaking psychometrist.)
arrgy: I have seen the test for years now at 3 different grade levels. I am pretty familiar with it, as I am assigned to read them to students, year after year, on the administration and on the makeups and on the retest.
Educator
June 10th, 2011
9:16 am
@catlady: Do remember that each year math standards are different. If scores are lower or higher, it could mean a student was more or less successful with the concepts taught that year. A criterion referenced test means students are tested on certain criteria. Teachers only teach the specific criteria for their grade level. That is why it is difficult to compare scores from year to year.
justjanny
June 10th, 2011
9:45 am
All y’all sick!! Let the educators educate along side of the parents! It is so-o-o easy to complain and pontificate about what you do not know. Y’all just sick here in Georgia!
Really amazed
June 10th, 2011
10:21 am
@Cobb mother of 4, I do realize that the itbs is done at the beginning of school year. At least it is a way of seeing how your child did nationally even if it was done beginning of year. You can take last years crct from 4th and then look at 5 grade itbs and see. Your child kicked but on crct and then itbs should have been 85% to 99%. The problem is that most students taking the crct are doing great then they take a national test and are seeing that they are maybe at grade level or under. I hear it from friends all the time…I exceeded the crct then tell me I passed the itbs too. The itbs isn’t something you pass. It will show you how you are doing compared to rest in the nation taking the same test. There is no reason why GA doesn’t just throw out crct and do itbs every year at the end of the year. They don’t because they know that itbs scores won’t look as good as the crct and more schools won’t be able to claim the wonderful AYP stat! This would also save money on testing. Since one test is done instead of dual test twice a year in some years. 50% on itbs means you did about the same as 50% taking the test. Once you get into the 90% range you are truly performing on a higher grade level. This is one gadge that is done for gifted programs. I know many students that don’t get in that range that have been placed into gifted programs anyway. Really? Georgia is such a feel good state, that parents and students aren’t getting a true picture of real abilities. Remember now for HOPE this year it’s not just that 3.7 it is now including SAT math/reading portion being 1200 that is 600 each section, Not so easy. CRCT has nothing to do with this and many students and parents become shocked when their child, who was exceeding the crct, with their straight A’s in elem and middle school aren’t able to achieve this.
catlady
June 10th, 2011
10:21 am
Educator: However, if a student has not mastered 2nd grade standards on place value and addition, they sure won’t be able to do double digit multiplication (I believe a 5th grade standard). It could also mean, in the case of math, that they haven’t mastered reading skills enough to be able to discern what is being asked.
NW GA Math-Science Teacher
June 10th, 2011
10:31 am
I see that there are already a great many posts here, but I have to disagree with the early discussion about the predictive value of the CRCT for EOCT performance – at least from my experience this year. Plotting my students’ 8th Math CRCT vs Math1 EOCT yielded only about R^2=0.35 while school wide it was about 0.45.
I agree that intuitively it seems that a kid exceeding is unlikely to then fail the EOCT, but not impossible. A lot of ground can be made up with enough effort from teachers AND students!
Really amazed
June 10th, 2011
10:34 am
@Cobb mother of 4, itbs is based more on true knowledge, crct is based on what you should have learned for that year. You can see what knowledge you have no matter what time of year the itbs is given.
From What I Understand
June 10th, 2011
11:44 am
@ Really amazed – actually there is a reason why ” GA doesn’t just throw out crct and do itbs every year at the end of the year, ” and that is that No Child Left Behind requires a standards-based to be given, and the ITBS is not based on Georgia standards.
All multiple choice tests are no the same. There is a difference between a criterion-based test and a norm-referenced test, and contrary to popular belief, it’s not that the ITBS shows “true knowledge.” A student could theoretically exceed standards on the GA CRCT and score in the 50%ile on the ITBS, and still be intelligent and well-educated. This is not Lake Wobegon, and all children are not above average – it is impossible for every child nation-wide to score in the 99th %ile on a nationally normed test, but it is theoretically possible for everyone to exceed standards on a CRCT.
For the record, I am not pro-NCLB, nor am I a fan of GA’s CRCT as it written and administered. I see value in the ITBS, but I don’t understand people looking at it as a Holy Grail of tests – I assume it’s because it is well known and familiar, as many of us probably took it as students back in the day. Both types of tests have value, but I believe we are over-testing our students to the point of numbness. We also have a lot of false comparison going on – comparing overall school or district results year to year on either type of test is not appropriate…but we do it anyway.
Cobb Mom of 4
June 10th, 2011
11:54 am
@Really amazed…thanks so much for the information. He did well on the ITBS. I don’t remember % but grade equivalents were 8 thru 12+. He’s a good and smart kid and I only hope that he remains so as he makes his way to middle school in the fall.
As a parent and taxpayer I am concerned that we aren’t getting the best bang for our buck when it comes to testing. There is so much emphasis on the CRCT throughout the school year and then afterwards nothing. The fact that you have to calculate the % correct instead of it being provided shows that we aren’t really concerned with how well the kids are doing, only if they get some arbitrarily assigned “Meets” or “Exceeds”. My son’s % on CRCT were all 92% and above which were “Exceeds”. I would be pretty PO to find that other kids had an ‘Exceeds” with maybe 60%.
What about one test at the end of the school year for every grade, preferably something like ITBS, nationally normed. Something that we can compare from year to year AND leave little room for manipulation and cheating. Spend the entire year teaching a challenging curriculum and get legitimate help for the students that need it, as opposed to teaching them enough so they can pass the retest.
From What I Understand
June 10th, 2011
11:56 am
Link to a page on the Iowa Test’s website outlining its purpose and appropriate and non-appropriate uses:
http://itp.education.uiowa.edu/itbs/itbs_about_9-14_prp.aspx
It’s interesting that they themselves say it’s not an appropriate use to evaluate the effectiveness of an entire school program. They also say it’s not appropriate to use solely for inclusion into a gifted program.
From What I Understand
June 10th, 2011
12:02 pm
Another link to their interpreting test scores page…very interesting and worth reading. They do address the possibility of using the test for criterion-referenced purposes, but they admit it would be very difficult to align criterion due to the wide nature of information covered. The scores can and should be used for growth for an individual student.
Also from the page:
“An achievement test is built to help determine how much skill or knowledge students have in a certain area. We use such tests to find out whether students know as much as we expect they should, or whether they know particular things we regard as important. By itself, the raw score from an achievement test does not indicate how much a student knows or how much skill she or he has. More information is needed to decide “how much.” The test score must be compared or referenced to something in order to bring meaning to it. That “something” typically is (a) the scores other students have obtained on the test or (b) a series of detailed descriptions that tell what students at each score point know or which skills they have successfully demonstrated. These two ways of referencing a score to obtain meaning are commonly called norm-referenced and criterion-referenced score interpretations.”
http://itp.education.uiowa.edu/itbs/itbs_interp_score.aspx
From What I Understand
June 10th, 2011
12:10 pm
Last little bit – people often refer to the ITBS as being a “nationally normed” test – they want to see how their children are doing compared with children nationwide. However, since the passage of NCLB, most states (other than Utah and Iowa) have opted to create their own state tests (their CRCTs – although they likely have other names). Some states have opted out entirely, while other states only test in certain years, like Georgia. It’s only as national as the students taking it in any given administration (and there are two – a fall and spring – each year).
Again – I’m not anti-ITBS – I think it’s a good, valuable test. I’m also definitely not pro-NCLB. However, there are a lot of misconceptions out there – educate yourselves!
Educator
June 10th, 2011
12:16 pm
Catlady: You are right about math: the standards build from year to year. The test assumes you have mastered the previous year’s standards. There is not enough time to reteach the previous year AND master the current year. So, students can slowly slip behind. At my school, we target at risk students and give them a second lesson each day on the regular classroom concept being taught. Also, reading ability DOES influence the math scores…a lot of comprehension must take place in order to answer the lengthy word problems.
From What I Understand
June 10th, 2011
12:17 pm
And one more…@Cobb Mom of 4 – on the grade equivalents (you may already know this, but a lot of people don’t): a grade equivalent does not mean that your child should be in that grade, nor does it mean that your child is doing that grade level of work. It means that your child did as well on his test as someone in that grade level would do on the SAME test.
Example: A fifth-grader scores a GE of 9.5 on a math test. It does not mean that the student should be in ninth grade, nor does it mean that the student knows, or is even capable of, 9th grade math. It means that the fifth grader did as well on the FIFTH grade test as as 9th grader in the 5th month of the school year would do on the FIFTH grade test.
It’s good if the GE is at or above your child’s actual grade – it’s cause for concern if it’s lower, especially significantly lower.
From What I Understand
June 10th, 2011
12:21 pm
And one more again, lol – this is just some food for thought (I just read this on a Catholic School’s website) – since the pool of students taking the ITBS test has changed, and a higher percentage of yearly takers are from private schools (who opt out of state tests, and prefer this), it has actually resulted in a sort of lowering of percentile scores, since those taking it are better-prepared. In other words, as the overall performance rises, the average changes with it. You could theoretically perform better, raw score-wise, but drop percentile-wise.